Occupy and Women on the Internet — Part 1/3
The protests and events occurring in Hong Kong beginning from September 2014, widely known under several terms such as Occupy Hong Kong and the Umbrella Movement, inspired a sudden burst of artistic productions, including documentary filmmaking, songs, installation art, paintings and other forms of creative resistance. This section documents some of these creations that specifically relate to women’s responses through the medium of film, both in front of, and behind the camera. Other multimedia links, events and women figures in the Umbrella Movement are also highlighted.
Short films by women filmmakers: Shannon Walsh
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Under The Umbrella – dir. Shannon Walsh. 2014 / 8 min.
This short film documents the perspectives of three young women from different backgrounds during the Umbrella Movement. The three women are Vicky Do, a Vietnamese graduate student (and director of her own short film about the movement, Stranger From Paradise – see below); Jing Jing Wang, a newly arrived Shanghai native studying creative media; and Ansah Malik, a fourth-generation Hong Kong person. Under The Umbrella was shown as part of the Umbrella Movement Shorts Selection in the 2015 Hong Kong Independent Film Festival.
Summary by Louisa Wei
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Shannon’s first feature documentary H2Oil is a very strong film revealing how Canadian companies polluted their own soil in Alberta and poisoned their own people in order to supply crude oil to their neighbor Americans. When the Umbrella Movement started, she was excited to get on to the street and got her students in action as well. This 8-min film intercuts among Vietnamese student Vicky Do, Shanghai student Wang Jingjing and Indian student Ansah Malik–a fourth generation Hong Konger, and present their experience with the movement. While Jingjing only talks on screen, Ansah is always in action and most memorable. Vicky has a strong vision herself, which is more complete in her own film “Stronger from Paradise.”
The filmmaker: Dr. Shannon Walsh is an Assistant Professor at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. She teaches and researches film, along with her filmmaking career. Her blog can be found at http://theartofeditinghk.wordpress.com/.
Short films by women filmmakers: Daria Marchenko
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Drops – dir. Daria Marchenko. 2014 / 1’19min
This short film features voiceovers of protesters explaining their thoughts and feelings over footage of the protests. This film was also shown under the title Occupy Movement, Hong Kong as a selection for the Umbrella Movement Shorts Selection in the 2015 Hong Kong Independent Film Festival.
Occupy Central, September 29 – dir. Daria Marchenko / 2014 / 3’42min
Marchenko interviewed protesters on the evening of September 29, 2014, by asking them to express the reasons why they were taking to the streets.
The filmmaker: Daria Marchenko is a photojournalist and filmmaker, who is educated in journalism, photojournalism and media communications. She has worked as a professional photographer for several publications including Newspaper Métro and Phototerra Studio in Montreal, Canada. Her website is http://dariamarchenko.com/.
Short film by women filmmaker: Nora Lam
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Midnight in Mong Kok – Dir. Nora Lam / 2014 / 15’57 min
This short particularly focuses on Mong Kok – regarded as the most chaotic protest site during the Umbrella Movement. The short intercuts with the interviews of protesters and footage of some of the intense moments between the protesters and the police. Midnight in Mong Kok was shown as part of the Umbrella Movement Shorts in the 2015 Urban Nomad Film Fest.
The Filmmaker: Nora Lam studies at the University of Hong Kong and has a strong interest in cinematic works. She has joined the Campus TV, HKUSU as a student journalist. After Midnight in Mong Kok, she made two feature films about the umbrella (Road Not Taken and Lost in the Fumes) . For more information about Nora Lam, please click here.
Related Articles:
Coconuts Hong Kong: ‘Midnight in Mong Kok’: A short documentary on Mong Kok throughout the Umbrella Movement
Lost in the Fumes:
SCMP: How documentary on Hong Kong localist politician Edward Leung, Lost in the Fumes, came to be made
The Broken Dreams of Hong Kong’s Young: An Interview With Nora Lam, Director of Lost In The Fumes
Hong Kong Women Filmmakers 
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